It: Welcome to Derry’s Cast and Producers Tease Pennywise’s Perfect Introduction In a Time of “Peak Fear”

At New York Comic-Con 2025, the team behind the new horror series, It: Welcome to Derry, shared details about the show. This HBO Max series is a prequel to the popular It movies directed by Andy Muschietti, which were based on Stephen King’s famous novel. This is just one of several Stephen King stories being adapted for the screen this year.

At New York Comic Con, the team behind TopMob – including producers Andy and Barbara Muschietti, showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane, and cast members Jovan Adepo, Taylour Paige, Kimberly Guerrero, James Remar, Stephen Rider, and Chris Chalk – talked about how the show’s 1962 setting enhances its frightening atmosphere and allows for even more intense and terrifying scenes.

Both It and It: Chapter Two take place in the fictional, eerie town of Derry, with a 27-year gap between them – a timeframe linked to when the evil force, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, becomes powerful. Instead of continuing the story forward with an It: Chapter Three, the filmmakers behind Welcome to Derry chose to explore the past, showing what happened during Pennywise’s active period 27 years before the first movie. This new story expands on details from Stephen King’s novel and reveals more about the origins of this terrifying entity.

Andy Muschietti explained that moving from a movie to a TV series allowed them to build a deeper connection with the characters and explore more of the story from Stephen King’s It than a two-hour film could allow. He also noted that the cinematic quality of shows like Game of Thrones (also an HBO production) reassured him that they could create Welcome to Derry with a similar, high-quality feel.

Set in 1962, the show draws on the intense anxieties of the Cold War era, a period the creators described as a time of heightened fear and reduced freedoms in America. They intentionally didn’t avoid the prevalent fear and prejudice of the time, allowing it to fuel the horror. This historical context directly inspired several new nightmare sequences in the film, focusing on anxieties specific to the era, such as the threat of nuclear war, fallout, and radiation.

Since audiences already knew Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise from previous installments, the show’s creators faced the difficulty of making his appearance in the prequel series feel impactful. According to producer Fuchs, Pennywise is introduced at exactly the right time, and he’s particularly pleased with how the show built suspense leading up to that moment.

During a panel at New York Comic Con, Muschiette confirmed the show’s plan to move backward in time, with future seasons potentially exploring earlier events from the story of It. She also explained that the first season’s finale will offer clues about this direction, revealing the reasons behind the show’s timeline shift.

Why It Welcome to Derry is A TV Show and Not A Film

“I Don’t Know If We Could Have Made This Into a Movie…”

Question: “What did the television format allow you to do with It that you couldn’t do in the films?”

Director Andy Muschietti believes that spending more time with characters allows audiences to connect with them on a deeper emotional level, which in turn creates a more impactful and dramatic experience. He thinks this is a key reason why series are so popular. While he and his team love movies – especially growing up when television wasn’t as strong – they’ve recently seen fantastic TV shows emerge thanks to increased investment and resources. For Muschietti, ‘Game of Thrones’ demonstrated that television could achieve the same high production value and storytelling as film, inspiring them to explore the possibilities of a series format.

We questioned whether the story could work as a single movie. Initially, we considered starting with the origins of ‘It,’ but the book contains so much detail – especially the interludes and how they tie into ‘It’s’ backstory. The story deliberately unfolds in reverse, and there’s a specific reason for that structure. Trying to fit all those elements into a two-hour film just wouldn’t have been possible, which is why a series format was a better choice.

Brad Caleb Kane explains that long-form TV allows for deeper character development. It gives creators the space to explore characters’ backgrounds, fears, and motivations, which can then be exploited by a powerful, otherworldly being. The goal was to create a particularly intense and fast-paced experience, even more impactful than the films.

1962 Opened Up Scary New Opportunities For Pennywise in Welcome to Derry

“2025 Is Also Scary, But [In 1962], It’s Peak Fear”

Question: “This show is set amongst the Cold War, which is very much a time of fear and paranoia in America. How did that time period influence how you approached your characters?”

Chris Chalk points out that looking back at history shows us how far we’ve come in terms of rights and freedoms. It’s easy to focus on current problems, but we actually have many privileges now that didn’t exist in the past, like in 1962. Back then, people had far fewer freedoms – less ability to express themselves, choose what to wear, or make decisions about their own bodies. When creating a character, it’s important to consider the limitations and restrictions of the time period they live in – essentially, the ‘prison’ of their circumstances.

The setting of America in 1962 is crucial – everything feels significant, and there’s a pervasive sense of fear. It’s a time when people are grappling with anxieties, and while 2025 is also frightening in the context of the show, 1962 represents the height of that fear, which actually makes it compelling for a scary story.

Kimberly Guerrero explains how the character Pennywise would lure someone in, and connects that to the very real horror faced by Indigenous communities. She feels a responsibility to represent the millions of Indigenous people who have been historically marginalized. Currently, she sees the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people as a widespread, terrifying situation – like the town of Derry from the It story, but on a much larger scale. She emphasizes that every aspect of her work is rooted in these current, heartbreaking truths.

James Remar believes Pennywise creates fear to attract victims. He compares Pennywise to an Aztec god – a being that consumes something essential, like a heart – something unseen and terrifying.

Jason Fuchs explains that the show is capitalizing on current anxieties, specifically those rooted in historical fears like the Cold War, nuclear threats, and radiation. The opening sequence introduces a mutant-focused storyline, signaling a new kind of horror that explores contemporary fears and will be a central theme throughout the season.

As a huge movie fan, especially of horror, I really appreciated how the filmmakers didn’t flinch from tackling the darker side of the early 1960s in this adaptation. It would’ve been easy to just create another story about a group of kids fighting a monster, but they went much deeper. They understood that ‘It’ isn’t just a creature; it feeds on fear and prejudice. And let’s be real, 1962 America had plenty of both. They made a conscious decision to address those issues head-on, and honestly, it makes the story so much more impactful and true to life. It felt important to show what people were really afraid of back then, and how that fear manifested.

Building to the Reveal of Pennywise

“I Think the Moment When You Finally See Pennywise… It’s Pretty Rough.”

Question: “Is there anything in It: Welcome to Derry you’re particularly proud of?”

Jason Fuchs believes the team did a great job building suspense before finally showing Pennywise. He says people constantly ask when Pennywise appears and how they decided when to reveal him. Fuchs feels they carefully increased the tension, and that Pennywise is introduced at exactly the right time.

What I’m most proud of is how well-developed the characters are. I think viewers really connect with them, both the younger and older ones. This connection doesn’t just make the story emotionally engaging, it also makes the scary moments much more impactful. Unlike in the films, where you only get to know the characters briefly before the horror begins, this series allows you to spend four hours with them before they face their fears. Because you’ve had so much time with these characters, you truly understand them, and that makes the scares far more intense and meaningful as a viewer.

I’m really proud that we focused on the characters when making the show. The way Andy built up to the reveal of Pennywise is particularly impactful and unsettling, I think.

Crafting Terrifying New Nightmare Encounters with It

“We just Wanted to Take Things to the Absolute Extreme…”

Question: “The nightmare sequences in Welcome to Derry are incredible. What was like to film/create those. What was practical versus what was visual effects on the day?”

As a fan, I was really impressed with how they created the underwater scenes! They struck a great balance between practical effects and CGI. The tunnel set itself was mostly real – they actually built a huge portion of it on a stage and filled it with water! I heard it was big enough to swim in, and at six feet tall, the water came up to my chest in some spots. Of course, the creatures were mostly CGI because, understandably, they couldn’t get the practical effects wet. But overall, it felt like a perfect mix of both worlds – real sets combined with digital effects, and it really worked!

Taylour Paige explained that while the show is a television production for HBO, it often felt like a movie due to the realistic sets and frequent use of practical locations instead of relying heavily on special effects like green screens or tennis balls to mark positions.

I came of age during the peak of slasher films, and I loved watching movies with over-the-top, gruesome deaths – things like ‘Phantasm,’ ‘The Beast Within,’ and ‘The Brood.’ They were full of really disturbing body horror, and I was a big fan. Since television didn’t have a rating system back then, we wanted to push those kinds of scary moments to the absolute limit. When you’re exploring themes like inherited trauma, which we aimed to do, you can really amplify children’s fears and take them to the highest possible level.

What is the Future of It: Welcome to Derry?

“At the End of Season 1 You Will Get a Hint of Where We’re Going…”

Andy Muschietti explained that they wanted to build a story connected to the book’s events, but leading to a surprising and unexpected conclusion, discovered in a new direction.

The fact that It seemingly dies doesn’t really change anything, because appearances are deceiving in Derry. There’s likely a past event that will make you question whether It truly died in 2016. It’s all a mystery, and that’s a central theme of the show. The end of Season 1 will offer a clue about where the story is heading and how we’ll be exploring the past.

It Welcome to Derry premieres on HBO Max on October 26, 2025.

2025-10-21 00:40